Dir En Grey (stylized as DIR EN GREY and previously as Dir en grey) is a Japanese metal band formed in 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. As of 2011, they have recorded eight full-length records. While the group's lineup has remained consistent since its inception, numerous stylistic changes have made the genre of their music difficult to determine (though it is generally considered to be a form of metal). Originally a visual kei band, the band has opted for less dramatic attire in recent years.[1][2]

Dir En Grey has toured through Asia, Europe, South America, and North America;[3][4]Billboard commenting on the group's international fanbase, that the band "has transcended the language barrier in the United States through its music" and "gained its audience without singing in English".[5]

History

1997–1999: Early career

Dir En Grey was preceded by the independent band La:Sadie's which included four of Dir En Grey's later members before it disbanded.[6][7] They disbanded due to Kisaki, the leader at the time, not wanting to debut as he felt that it's too soon, but Kaoru believed that they were ready for it. After parting ways with La:Sadie's bassist Kisaki, Kyo, Kaoru, Die and Shinya along with newly recruited bassist Toshiya regrouped as a new band on February 2, 1997[8] and released a first EP, Missa, a few months later. According to guitarist Kaoru, the name "Dir En Grey" was chosen because it "sounded right," and is composed of words from several languages, so that people would not be able to attach a specific meaning to it other than the band's name itself. More likely, however, was that the name was taken from "Dir en Gray", a song from Lareine's first demo tape.[9]

They first attracted mainstream attention in 1998, by entering the top ten on the Oricon music charts with the still independently produced songs "Jealous" and "-I'll-".[3][10] Five subsequent singles, arranged and produced by X Japan co-founder Yoshiki Hayashi, were published during the first half of 1999, the band's first full-length record, Gauze, followed. One of the shows in support for the album (filmed at the Osaka-jo Hall) would later become the first of several live concerts to be released on VHS and DVD.

2000–2004: From Macabre to Vulgar

In 2000 vocalist Kyo was hospitalized with hearing trouble and several dates of the tour in support of Dir En Grey's then upcoming album, Macabre, had to be postponed. "Tour 00 >> 01 Macabre" eventually took off later the same year and was concluded at Nippon Budokan, shortly after the release of the single "Ain't Afraid to Die" in April 2001.

In the following year, along with the release of a third full-length album, Kisou, Dir En Grey gave their first performances abroad, touring China, Taiwan, and South Korea. Back in Japan, the last dates of the lengthy "Rettou Gekishin Angya" tour were already in support for the band's second EP, Six Ugly. In summer 2003, Dir En Grey performed at the Akasaka Blitz for five evenings in one week. Each show (except the first) was themed after a certain album, the last featuring songs from the then yet to be released Vulgar. A DVD set, titled Blitz 5 Days, was later released exclusively for members of the band's official fan club, A Knot. Vulgar released in September 2003, tours in support for the record would last well into 2004.

2005–2006: Early non-Asian touring

In 2005, Dir En Grey performed in Europe for the first time. Their concerts in Berlin and Paris (as part of the "It Withers and Withers" tour) sold out without promotion, save for newsletters by import record stores and internet-based word of mouth.[4] The band also performed at two major festivals, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park. Becoming more involved with the international music scene, they had French band Eths open for them at the Paris concert and invited American musician Wednesday 13 and his band to play at a show in Japan. Dir En Grey also appeared at the Japanese leg of the "Taste of Chaos" tour.

2005 saw the first official European releases as well, in the form of that year's album Withering to Death. The band's music had previously been available to fans not living in Asia through means of import and Internet file-sharing only. The album also managed to achieve Dir En Grey's first non-Asian chart position, reaching No. 31 in the Finnish album charts. The subsequent single, "Clever Sleazoid", later climbed to No. 15 on the singles charts in the same country.[11] Several Dir En Grey songs were also featured in the soundtrack of the 2005 film Death Trance.[12]

2007–2009: The Marrow of a Bone and Uroboros

In February, Dir En Grey went on its first North American headlining tour, visiting sixteen cities[17][18] while its sixth full-length album, The Marrow of a Bone, was released on February 7 in Japan, and in the United States and Europe in the following months. From May to July, the group opened during a United States tour of Deftones[19] and afterwards did another European tour, which included their debut shows in Denmark, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, as well as several festival performances across the continent, including Ankkarock, M'era Luna Festival and Wacken Open Air.

The group went on another international tour in September, titled after its most recent single "Dozing Green", beginning in Japan, and continuing in Europe, including their first performance in the Netherlands and Switzerland. In late November, Dir En Grey opened two shows for Linkin Park at Saitama Super Arena and in December performed another Japan tour with 10 Years as support act. Commemorating Dir En Grey's tenth anniversary as a band, two greatest hits compilations, titled Decade 1998–2002 and Decade 2003–2007 respectively, were released on December 19.

At the beginning of 2008, Dir En Grey announced plans to begin recording a new studio album...[20] Their first touring of the year, in May, was another Japan tour with a conclusion of three shows at Shinkiba Studio Coast, titled Death over Blindness. Between touring, Dir En Grey performed on one night of the two-night "hide memorial summit" on May 4, alongside X Japan, Luna Sea, and others.[21] A second Japanese tour, titled Tour 08 The Rose Trims Again began September 10 the same day as the release of their single "Glass Skin".

On August 1, Dir En Grey announced the release of their seventh studio album, Uroboros, which was released on November 11, 2008 in the United States. The band also toured the United States and Canada in support of the album[22][23] with dates scheduled for November and December (overlapping the release of Uroboros)[24] with opening act The Human Abstract. More touring that fall included a series of four shows titled "Bajra", two being fan-club exclusive, and a single show on December 29, under the moniker "Uroboros -Breathing-", at the famous Osaka-jo Hall where Dir En Grey had not performed since December 18, 1999 (as seen on 1999.12.18 Osakajo Hall).

During spring of 2009, the band began to fully promote Uroboros with a series of nationwide tours, under the title "Tour 09 Feast of V Senses". The tour was interrupted briefly while in Sapporo and Sendai, with an announcement on the band's official website, explaining that Kyo had been diagnosed with edema of the larynx, and would require the postponement of three shows, which were rescheduled for early May.[25]

After several shows of their late-summer tour, "All Visible Things," Dir En Grey announced their next single for December, "Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami", as well as a North American and South American tour also under the title "All Visible Things." Their new single was released on December 2, 2009 and reached number 2 on the Oricon Weekly Chart. The highest position to date for the band.

Their 2009 tour season ended with a 3 live tour titled, "Dorje". They finally ended their long Uroboros centered tour by doing 2 back to back performances at the Nippon Budokan, titled, "Uroboros –with the proof in the name of living…-" where tickets sold out in 15 minutes.

2010–present: Dum Spiro Spero

It was announced on April 7, 2010, that the band would be returning to the United Kingdom in August on the lineup for the Sonisphere Festival in Knebworth, playing on a bill being headlined by Iron Maiden and Rammstein. According to the festival website, this will be their only UK festival performance this year. Regarding the announcement, Kaoru (on the Sonisphere UK website) is quoted as saying "I'd never have thought that we would play a festival of this caliber! It is like a dream come true to be playing with such great bands at Sonisphere. Although we’re not back in the UK for a tour, we wanted to play this festival to give something back to the fans who were disappointed last year from our cancelled finale in London. We were really bummed ourselves to not play and are looking forward to playing a great show for all our fans. We'll also think up something special for this show as a way to show them our appreciation for waiting for us to come back. As at any festival, we are excited about playing for people who have never seen us before, and I hope they will be able to enjoy our show with our unique stage performance. It'll be something they’ve never seen before! It will be absolutely rewarding for us if they simply enjoy our performance.”

It was announced on April 28, 2010, that Dir En Grey would be playing an exclusive club date at London's Koko venue on August 3, 2010 as part of "The Unwavering Fact of Tomorrow Tour 2010". Guitarist Kaoru comments: "It's been awhile since our last headline show in London so you can expect as much as you want!! We're looking forward to see our fans in the UK again and hopefully see some new faces who saw us on the Kerrang! Tour. Come and enjoy a performance that you can only experience at our headline shows!"[26] Dir En Grey announced later on, that they also will do their debut performances in Russia by adding one show in Moscow at Tochka Club on August 5 and one show in St Petersburg at Glav Club on August 6.[26] Dir en grey have been touring North America on a co-headlining tour with the Finnish band Apocalyptica, who have been promoting their most recent album 7th Symphony with a special guest of Kyo interpreting the song "Bring Them to Light", one of the tracks of the cello-metalers latest record.[26][27]

The single "Lotus" was released on January 26, 2011, along with a new fan-club only tour named The Decomposition of the Moon, scheduled to run from May 14 to May 26.[30] The band released "Different Sense" on June 22.[31] The band's eighth studio album, Dum Spiro Spero, was released on August 3. Material from this album was showcased on the band's South and North American tour "Age Quod Agis", in November and December 2011.

In February 2012, following a doctor's visit, vocalist Kyo was diagnosed with vocal nodule dysphonia,[32] leading to Dir en grey pulling out of the North American The Still Reckless Tour, consisting of Asking Alexandria, Trivium, Motionless in White, and I See Stars, as well as the cancellation of their own remaining Japanese headlining shows. Although Kyo has been hospitalized before in 2006 and 2009 for vocal inflammation, he has not required surgery until now.[33]

On August 3, the band announced that they would be releasing the single "Rinkaku" in winter of 2012. Also, a tour titled "In Situ" was announced, scheduled to begin on December 25 in Tokyo.

On August 14, Dir En Grey won "Extreme Metal Olympics" organized by Loudwire.com beating Death in the final.[34]

Musical style

Dir En Grey has been categorized in many genres such as alternative metal, death metal, experimental, avant-garde and various others.[35] Dir En Grey's format has been subject to change throughout their career, initially being a rather experimental form of alternative rock. Some tracks of their debut album Gauze also demonstrated a distinct pop appeal, which was largely dropped in favor of a more progressive sound on the following albums, Macabre and Kisou. While up to that point some songs had already been more fast-paced, raw and aggressive than others, the band's music took a decisive turn with the release of the EP Six Ugly, from then on sporting more metal influences in general. Dir En Grey's style has since gravitated towards riffs and song structures more along the lines of contemporary North American fusion genres, such as nu metal and metalcore, though their album, Uroboros, sees them return to the more experimental and oriental sound of their earlier albums. Since its release many sources have begun classifying Dir En Grey as progressive metal. In a review of their sixth full length album, The Marrow of a Bone, Allmusic comments on their evolution and diversity, saying:

“

The band's sound has embraced tendencies of American metal and nu metal (they participated in Korn's Family Values tour in America), and Dir en Grey bring so many other sonic and musical elements into the mix that they extend not only the reach of their own music, but the boundaries of any music they happen to incorporate into their sound.

Kyo's singing is considered a pivotal aspect of the band, and he has gained recognition for his distinctive vocal work and for his large range and versatility, being able to "howl, croon, emote cleanly, scream, shriek, growl, bellow, and make nearly inhuman sounds",[3] and he has been compared favorably to singer and avant garde metal musician Mike Patton.[36] In their review of Uroboros, Sputnik Music says only of Kyo's singing, "I challenge you to find one singer in any genre with more range than this guy."[37] All lyrics are written by Kyo and deal with subjects such as society, mass media as well as sexual obsessions and love, usually with negative implications. The vocabulary varies from subtle to explicit and several songs rely heavily on double entendres and other wordplay, often involving the multiple meanings of a kanji character.[38]

Members

The members of Dir En Grey are credited with their given or stage names, with the names of Kyo (京?) and Kaoru (薫?) usually being written in kanji.

Discography

Scream for the Truth

On August 1, Dir en Grey released an open letter on their official Facebook that accuses the Japanese government of lying to its people and hiding the true danger of the radiation levels after the nuclear accidents caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. In October the band launched a campaign called Scream for the Truth, complete with a website and billboards hanging in Times Square in New York City, in hopes of stopping the lies and getting correct information.[39][40]